Flat contacting piece for switching



June 15 1965 w. HOLZER 3,189,719

FLAT CONTACTING PIECE FOR SWITCHING Filed Oct. 30, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.7.

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5o Fig.7. q ig.5. ig .8 I I 5 I0\ 6,5 13 r510 29 14 U U U INVENTOR! WALTER HOLZER g g a A Horneys United States Patent 3,189,719 FLAT (IQNTACTHNG PIEQE FGR SWTTCHING Walter Holzer, Meersbnrg (liiodensee), Germany Filed Oct. 30, 1961, Ser. No. 145,538 Claims priority, application Germany, Get. 29, 1960, H 419,813; June 27, 1961, H 42,965 9 Claims. (tCl. 2013-166) The invention relates to a switching arrangement which may be used for compact program control devices. P articularly, the invention relates to a contact making and breaking device, its mounting, configuration and actuation by means of a rotating cam.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a low-p riced contact member which is easily adjustable while offering best contact qualities, requiring little space and being easily assembled and disassembled.

Well known and generally used contact parts are usually not made of stamped pieces, or they were made of rigid parts requiring bearings so as to permit contact making and breaking. The known contact parts were either screwed or riveted to a casing, and for reasons of insufficient handling space it was practically impossible to make the several contact parts interchangeable.

The primary object of the present invention is to eliminate these disadvantages by developing :a contact part which by means of a moving cam assures reliable contact making and breaking and permits easy, interchangeable assembly whereby a plurality or" contact making and breaking, i.e., switching devices may be assembled with only narrow spaces between neighboring switches.

The object of the present invention is attained by providing for the following arrangement: There is first a flat contact member, made of a stamped sheet metal piece. This contact member comprises first of all a meandered portion having regular serpentines and defining two perpendicularly extending paths of resilient reaction which are in the plane of extension or symmetry of the contact member. On one end of this regularly meandered portion and being integral therewith, there is a fiat piece or part for mounting a contact element or elements. This fiat part will in the following be called contact part.

Extending from this flat contact part is a nose having a surface for engagement with a cam. This surface faces substantially the same direction in which the contact element is moving either for contact making or breaking. A stationary contact is mounted for corresponding cooperation with the contact element of the flat contact part. The other end of the meandered portion terminates in a likewise flat part with which the contact member is mounted and position arrested so as to define a one arm lever. The latter flat part is provided for making suitable per'rnanent electrical connections and, therefore, will be called connecting part.

There is further provided a rotatable cam positioned so as to engage the said surface for moving the one arm lever-contact member for contact making and breaking. The cam itself when operating upon the contact member, i.e., the said surface thereof, moves perpendicular to the direction of contact making and breaking, which is a direction coinciding with one of the paths of resilient reaction. This latter movement of the cam imparts upon the contact member a movement causing the two contacts to slide over each other thus providing for a self-cleansing eifect.

The distance between the engagement surface for the operating cam and the meandered portion may vary. T is means that the engagement surface may be placed as well close to the contact itself or remote therefrom. Also, the shape of the engagement surfiace may vary. It may be straight or round.

For an easy assembly or else disasse'rnbly it is recommended to place the contact member as an uprightly stand- 3,189,719 Patented June 15, 1965 ing element in-between two insulating members, such as plates, which are kept apart by spacers for a sufficient distance. The insulating members have openings, stops and projections which permit inserting of the contact member as well as its arresting by resilient action.

The proposed arrangement ofi'ers the advantage of using the electrical connecting part of the contact member for resiliently engaging and retaining it in an insulating mem ber. There one utilizes the resiliency offered by the meandered portion when the contact member is inserted against the resistance offered by the resilient serpentines in a direction occurring during the moment of contact making. The insulating member or plate or plates may serve as support for a printed circuit, within which the contact member carries out switching ope-rations.

In order to secure a durable positioning of the contact member even if subjected to severe shocks, it is quite sufficient for the assembly to merely have projections and cooperating stops on either one or both of the supporting plates for arresting the resiliently reacting contact member part by means of corresponding stops and projections.

The individual serpentines of the meandered portions need not to be coplanar, but may alter by similar angles of succeeding curves. The plane of symmetry still is defined by two perpendicular paths of resilient reaction. This feature provides for a softer resilient reaction and greater security against tilting.

The meandered portion can also be subdivided in two portions extending at right angle to each other. By an arrangement of this kind, the degree of resilient action within one or the other plane can be preselected which is important for the pressure of contact making.

While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as the invention, it is believed that the invention, the objects, and features of the invention and further objects, features and advantages thereof will be better understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a cam operated switch known in the art;

FIG. 2 illustrates schematically a proposed application for a control switch according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of a first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation according to a modified embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a top view of a further embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 \FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a schematic front view of a contact member with subdivided meandered portion;

FIG. 8 is a top view of the contact member shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 illustrates bows of a meandered contact member in alternating position;

FIG. 10 shows a side elevation of a more sophisticated contact member which is fastened on a bottom insulating member and arrested in its position by a top insulating member, the two insulating members being shown in cross-sectional view;

is a side view of the arrangement shown in FIG. 11 represents a contact member which is fastened on the insulating member; and

FIG. 12 illustrates the double contact used in the arrangement shown in FIG. -11.

All drawings are diagrammatic views of the main parts only.

FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art, cam operated switchingdevice. A cam disk 1 operates by means of a nose 2, a nose 3 being an element of a contact making arm 4. A contact 5 on arm 4 cooperates with an oppositely positioned contact 6. The connector 7 is jointly connected at 8 with the contact making part 4. A spring 9 renders an elastic action to the contact making arm 4. The connector 7 as well as the contact making piece 4 are parts practically without any special resilient qualities, as compared with spring 9.

A first switching device according to the invention is illustrated in FIG. 3. The contact member 19 includes first a flat connecting part 13 and a flat contact part 14. Both parts are integrally interconnected by means of a hat regularly meandered part 15. The contact part 14 carries a contact element cooperating for contact making and breaking with stationary contact 6. A connector socket 20 or the like is connected to connecting part 13 for making permanent electrical connection during operation.

Contact part 14 has a downwardly protruding, rounded nose 3. A cam disk 1 is provided for rotation in the direction of arrow 16, and has a cam 2 capable of engaging the downwardly extending surface of nose 3 perraining to contact member 10.

As soon as the cam 2 is moved in the direction of the arrow 16 and engages nose 3, the contact part 14 will then be carried to some extent along the direction shown by the arrow 17 due to the resilient yielding in the same direction of meandered part 15. It is apparent, that the stretching of meandered part occurs because cam 2 substantially moves in the direction of arrow 17 while pushing nose 3 upwardly (upper arrow 19"). It is readily apparent from FIG. 3, that earn operation is carried out in two perpendicular directions. Cam 2 pushes contact member 1i upward, and stretches meandered portion 15 in the direction of extension of member 1%. The latter movement is only due to the fact that the operating cam moves perpendicular to the direction of cam actuated contact making and breaking as stated.

After cam 2 disengages from nose 3, a return motion by recoiling due to resilient reaction of the previously stretched, meandered part 15 follows in direction of the arrow 18. This back and forth motion provides for an automatic cleansing of the contacts 5 and 6.

An additional feature of the fiat meandered part 15 is that it offers resilient resistance when contact 5 is lifted in the direction of arrow 19 as stated. Upon disengagement of nose 3 from cam 2, the contact 5 is returned by resilient reaction downwardly (lower arrow 19).

FIG. 2 illustrates schematically and in top view how many of the contact members such as 10 can be assembled for contact making and breaking by means of a cam disk 11, having a number of cam tracks operating upon the respective noses 3 of the several contact members 10. One can readily see from FIG. 2, that the flat, uprightly standing members 1% can be arranged so as to require only narrow spaceinbetween juxtaposed members.

In case of using prior art contact parts according to FIG. 1 for an arrangement as shown in FIG. 2, the distance between adjacent contact members has to be much larger than is the distance 12 when contact member 10 such as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4- are used.

In FIG. 4 a second embodiment of the invention is shown and it may be noted that similar numbers are used for parts having similar functions as compared with FIG. 3. In this case the connecting part 13 has a plug type connection 20 and a fastening vane 21, the latter being optional.

The contact part 14 has two oppositely extending guide tongues 22, 23. There are two plates 24, which may have printed circuits 26 on their surfaces. Guide slots 27, 28 in plates 24 and 25, respectively, serve as accurate guides for contact member 10 when its tongue 22 is moved up and down by a cam disk such as 1 in FIG. 3 or a curve disk 11 such as shown in FIG. 2.

Turning now to FIGS. 5 and 6 it may be said, that also similar numbers refere to parts of similar functions. The specific resilient action of the contact member shown in 1 this embodiment occurs in a plane perpendicular to the plane of extension of fiat member it). Such a construction is advisable when several contact members are being placed one upon each other and not one next to each other as is shown in FIG. 2. It is apparent, that the self-cleansing efi'ect here is again due to stretching and recoiling of meandered portion 15'.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate top and side elevation of a contact member whereby in addition to a first meandered part 15 there is provided a second meandered portion section 29 contiguous with the first but at a right angle thereto.

PEG. 9 depicts diagrammatically the possibility of offset-ting alternatively individual serpentines 3d, 31, 32 of one contact member. There the plane of resilient reaction can tilt by a width 33 as is shown in FIG. 9, which in turn is an assurance against tilting wheneverthe contact part is being bent in the direction, of the arrow 34.

FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate a contact member of the invention and its positioning in a housing.

Turningfirst to FIG. 10, there is illustrated a contact member positioned in between two insulating members 35 and 36. Members 35 and 36 are spaced apart by removable ribs or spacers, only schematically indicated. The

insulating members 35, 3, correspond to plate surfaces 24, 25 of PEG. 4. The meandered part 15 of the contact member extends vertically and so does the connecting part 13 having a connection lug or vane 21. A stop 37a is provided in the lower one, 36, of the two insulating members and projects into an opening in member 35. Stop 37a of insulating member engages a conforming projection 33a of lug 21.

Insulating member 35 has an opening 39 and there is a stop 3715 at that opening against which is resting a portion 38b of connecting part 13.

The arresting position of the contact member in FIG. 10 is attained as follows: first the upper insulating member 35 is removed, and then the Contact member is introduced, in the direction of the arrow d1. Thereafter the insulating member 35 is placed back into the illustrated position whereby the contact member will be secured in its arrested position for the following reasons:

The meandered pontion 15 first provides for suificient resilient reaction in direction of the arrow 42 whereby the projection 38a will be pressed against the projecting stop 37a of insulating member 36 while contact 5 on contact part 14 engages stationary contact 6 thus keeping the contact member in its arrested posit-ion. Furthermore, the meandered portion 15 resiliently reacts in the direction of arnow 4-3, so that the connecting part 13 is retained by projecting pieces 44. The resilient action of the nose 3 by virtue of meandered portion 15 is not impaired thereby, since the meandered ponti'on constitutes such a relatively long lever arm so that a smooth but still snapping operation of the nose 3 occurs whenever it is urged down after having been lifted during passage of nose 2 when cam disk 1 rotates in the direction of the arrow 16. Nose 3 projects through plate 36 and in a second aperture 27 thereof, penmi-tting actuating engagement with cam 2 as stated. Arrows 17 and 18 again denote the motion of Contact part 14 for cleansing of contacts 5 and 6. The position of the contact member when cam 2 does not engage nose 3 is defined by resilient action of meandered point-ion 15, particularly urging nose 3 downward. When nose 3 engagm cam 2 and the latter urges the former upwardly, there is a corresponding friction, carrying nose 3 in direction of arrow 17. Upon disengagement, nose 3 and part 14 snap back in direction of arrows 18 and 19 (down).

For the arresting position there are effective two 0pposedly acting moments of torque. The stop 38b of connecting part 13 is urged against the top plate 35 at 37 b and stop 33a is urged against the projection 37a of bottom insulating plate 36.

In FIG. 11 the serpentines of meandered portion 15 are differently located as compared with FIG. 10 and a resilient reaction in another direction may be obtained thereby. Arrow 45 denotes the direction of placing the contact member in-lbetween members 35 and 36 during assembling. An opening 40 shown in FIG. 11 serves for inserting the entire contact member between members 35 and 36. The bottom insulating member 3'6 has no opening for any electrical connector and the flat nose 3 is extending through the single aperture 27 thereof and is projecting therethrough so as to serve as a contact finger engaging cam 2.

A design of this kind is of advantage in case no components conducting electric current are permitted to project through the bottom of insulating member 36. The top insulating member 35 has two stop shoulders 37c and d. The serpentine defined Where meandered portion 15 joins connecting part 13 engages one downwardly projecting stop 370 so that meandered portion 15 is resiliently urged upwardly against this stop; contacts 5 and 6 again rest on each other. The contact member is further position arrested by a connecting vane 21 extending upwardly from part 13 and resting against a stop 37d defined by a connector piece 48 on plate 35. The resiliency active in the direction of arrow 46 which has to be overcome while inserting the contact member in direction of arrow 45 causes a pressure in the direction of the arrow 47 urging the contact member into arrested position.

In FIG. 11 there is one torque moment acting where the meandered part 15 again joins the contacting part 13 and the other moment occurs at the top insulating member by arresting on the conductive piece 48 which is interposed in-bet-ween portion 21 and plate 35'.

In FIG. 11, connecting part 13 has a solder connection 49 and there are terminal lugs 50, 51 which may be adjusted for soldering or screwing, or a plug connection.

The contacts themselves as they are on the respective contact part 14 may have manifold construction. In FIG. the two contacts 5 and 6 are placed within the plane of extension of the fiat contact member and, therefore, the two contact pieces are rather narrow. In case of FIG. 4 the contact may, for example, be riveted or welded onto contact member 10, and in FIG. 11 there is shown a piece of sheet metal 52 on which are mounted two individual contacts 5 constituting a double contact and being riveted thereto (FIGURE 12).

In all embodiments it is important to make the con necting part 13 as sturdy as possible so that its position is tightly and positively arrested within the supports by virtue of resilient action of the meandered part 15. Projections and stops ought to be placed in such a manner so that the contact member is retained during the upward motion as well as during the downward motion for respectively contact breaking and making. The cross-section and length of the stamped, meandered portion section ought to be chosen so that a relatively small pressure exerted by the cam upon the operating surface of nose 3 yields a sufficient amount of contact pressure as well as a snappy contact action.

The invention is not limited to the embodiments described above but all changes and modifications thereof not constituting departments from the spirit and scope of the invention are intended to be covered by the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a cam operated switching device, the combination comprising: a stationary contact; a contact member having a first flat portion arrested in a stationary support, having a second flat portion carrying a contact cooperating for contact making and breaking with said stationary contact in first and second directions being oppositely orientated to each other, said contact member further having a resilient meandered portion integral with and interconnecting said first and second portion, said meandered portion having fiat serpentine-portions; means on said contact member defining an actuating surface facing a direction coinciding with said first direction; and a cam bodily movable in the second direction adjacent said contact member engaging said surface and urging it into said second direction, said cam moving said actuating surface in a direction substantially perpendicular to said first and second directions when said cam actuates said contact .on said contact member by engaging said actuating surface.

2. In a cam operated switching device, the combination comprising: a fiat contact member, having a regularly meandered portion with the serpentines thereof being in the plane of extension of said member and defining two perpendicularly orientated paths of resilient reaction, also coplanar with the extension of said contact member, further having a flat connecting part at one end and a fiat contact carrying part on the other end of said meandered portion coplanar therewith, there being a cam engagement surface and a contact means at said contact carrying part; a stationary contact for contact making and breaking with said contact means in directions parallel to a first one of said paths of resilient reaction; means for engaging and retaining said connecting part against resilient reaction by said meandered portion; and a rotating cam actuating said cam engaging surface in said directions while moving parallel to the second one of said paths of resilient reactions.

3. In a cam operated switching device, the combination comprising: a member having a regularly meandered portion including flat serpentines and defining two perpendicularly orientated paths for resilient reaction, further having a flat portion coplanar with said two paths of resilient reactions and extending from one end of said meandered portion; a nose integral with and extending from said flat portion parallel to a first one of said paths of resilient reactions; a contact member on said flat portion; a stationary contact positioned relative to said contact on said flat portion to permit contact making and breaking parallel to the extension of said nose; means on said contact member and being integral therewith for position arresting said contact member at the other end of said meandered portion; and a cam mounted for engagement with said nose in the direction of extension thereof while moving in a direction perpendicular thereto, substantially parallel to the second one of said paths for resilient reactions.

4. In a cam operated switching device, the combination comprising: a contact member having regularly meandered portions with serpentines extending alternatingly in planes inclined to each other and defining a common plane for resilient reaction; means for position arresting one end of said meandered portions; a flat part integral with and extending from the other end of said meandered portions and carrying a contact and having a surface for cam engagement; a stationary contact mounted for contact making and breaking with said contact on said contact member in directions extending in said plane for resilient reaction; and a cam mounted for engagement with said surface for actuating said contact member while moving in a direction perpendicular to said contact making and breaking directions but still in said plane for resilient reaction.

5. In a cam operated switching device, the combination comprising: a fiat contact member having a regularly meandered portion and defining two perpendicularly orientated paths of resilient reaction Within the plane of its extension, said contact member further having a flat connecting part integral and coplanar therewith and extending from one end of said meandered portion; first and second stationary insulating plates positioned in spaced apart relationship; stop means and apertures at at least one of said plates receiving and engaging said connecting piece for resiliently arresting the position of said contact member by virtue of resilient reaction within said plane; a nose integral with and extending from the other end of said meandered portion in a direction parallel to a first one of said paths of resilient reaction;

a contact making means at the said other end of said meandered portion; a stationary contact secured to one of said plates in such a position permitting contact making and breaking in directions parallel to said first path of resilient reaction; and a rotating cam actuating said nose in said directions while moving parallel to the second one of said paths of resilient reaction.

6. in a cam operated switching device, the combination comprising: a flat contact member having a regularly meandered portion and defining two perpendicularly orientated paths of resilient reaction within the plane of its extension, said contact member further having a frat connecting part including upwardly and downwardly extending portions, both portions extending from one end of said meandered portion and being coplanar therewith; a first plate having first and second apertures, there being a projection at said second aperture engaging said downwardly extending portion of said connecting part; a second plate having an aperture receiving said upwardly extending portion and being mounted above said first plate defining receiving space for said contact member in-between; a nose integral with and extending from the other end of said meandered portion and protruding through said first aperture of said first plate; a contact making means at said other end of said meandered portion; a stationary contact secured to one of said plates in such a position permitting contact making and breaking in directions parallel to said first path of resilient reaction; and a rotating cam actuating said nose in said directions while moving parallel to the second one of said paths of resilient reaction.

7. In a cam operated switching device, the combination comprising: a fiat contact member having a regularly meandered portion and defining two perpendicularly orientated paths of resilient reaction within the plane of its extension, said contact member further having a flat connecting part integral and coplanar therewith and extending from one end of said meandered portion; first and second plates spaced apart receiving said contact memher, there being an aperture with stop means in one of said plates positively engaging and retaining said connecting part by resilient reaction of said meandered portion in a first one of said paths; a nose integral with and extending a from the other end of said meandered portion in a direction parallel to said first one of said paths of resilient reactions; a contact making means at the said other end of said meandered portion; a stationary contact secured to one of said plates in such a position permitting contact making and breaking in directions parallel to said first path of resilient reaction; and a rotating cam actuating said nose in said directions while moving parallel to the second one of said paths of resilient reaction.

8. In a cam operated switching device, the combination comprising: a contact member having a meandered portion with flat resilient serpentine portions and defining a plane for directions of resilient reactions, further having a flat portion extending from one end of said meandered portion and carrying contact making means; means for arresting said contact member at the other end of said meanderedportion; a stationary contact mounted for contact making and breaking with said contact making means on said contact member, in a direction in said plane for resilient reactions; means on said contact member integral therewith and defining a cam engagement surface facing in said direction; and a cam mounted for engagement with said surface for actuating said contact member to laterally move said member in a given plane and also move said member in a direction perpendicular thereto.

9. In a switching device as set forth in claim 8, there being an insulating plate supporting said stationary contact and having a guiding aperture; and a tongue extending from said contact member protruding through said aperture for guiding said contact member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,120,421, 6/ 38 Wagar 200166 2,832,851 4/58 Jones 200153 FOREIGN PATENTS 555,341 3/57 Belgium. 1,052,056 1/54 France.

BERNARD A. GILHEANY, Primary Examiner.

MAX L. LEVY, Examiner. 

1. IN A CAM OPERATED SWITCHING DEVICE, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING: A STATIONARY CONTACT; A CONTACT MEMBER HAVING A FIRST FLAT PORTION ARRESTED IN A STATIONARY SUPPORT, HAVING A SECOND FLAT PORTION CARRYING A CONTACT COOPERATING FOR CONTACT MAKING AND BREAKING WITH SAID STATIONARY CONTACT IN FIRST AND SECOND DIRECTIONS BEING OPPOSITELY ORIENTATED TO EACH OTHER, SAID CONTACT MEMBER FURTHER HAVING A RESILIENT MEANDERED PORTION INTEGRAL WITH AND INTERCONNECTING SAID FIRST AND SECOND PORTION, SAID MEANDERED PORTION HAVING FLAT SERPENTINE-PORTIONS; MEANS ON SAID CONTACT MEMBER DEFINING AN ACTUATING SURFACE FACING A DIRECTION COINCIDING WITH SAID FIRST DIRECTION; AND A CAM BODILY MOVABLE IN THE SECOND DIRECTION ADJACENT SAID CONTACT MEMBER ENGAGING SAID SURFACE AND URGING IT INTO SAID SECOND DIRECTION, SAID CAM MOVING SAID ACTUATING SURFACE IN A DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO SAID FIRST AND SECOND DIRECTIONS WHEN SAID CAM ACTUATES SAID CONTACT ON SAID CONTACT MEMBER BY ENGAGING SAID ACTUATING SURFACE. 